The Salisbury football team started last season with a bang, downing Bangor in the season opener by a final score of 41-27.

When the Falcons (1-2) travel to Bangor (1-2) on Friday a little more than a year later, they'll have a chance to accomplish something they have yet to do since head coach Andy Cerco took over win consecutive games.

Last week's win over Notre Dame (Green Pond) put the Falcons in the win column after starting off 0-2. They'll look to keep the momentum going and improve to .500 against the Slaters.

"Any time you get a win you have a little more confidence going into the next week," Cerco said. "The players understand what is expected of them, and they are meeting those expectations. Our challenge and our expectation was to play a complete game, and against Notre Dame we were able to do that."

The biggest factor in securing win No. 2 on the season is staying true to their own game plan for four quarters.

"We talked to our kids [Monday] about how this game in particular, and really every week, is more about us," Cerco said. "We need to make sure that we're playing a complete game, and that we're becoming more efficient in all three phases of the game. If we take care of those things, we're going to be in games."

The Slaters are coming off consecutive blowout losses after defeating Catasauqua 31-18 in the season opener. Bangor fell to Northwestern, 41-0 in Week 2, and most recently allowed 54 points in their loss to Palmerton (54-13) on Friday.

Bangor runs a single-wing offense, one that no one else in the Colonial League features. The Falcons will have to deal with that new look, and they're trying to anticipate it during practice this week.

"It's something that you don't see very often," Cerco said. "It's going to be difficult to replicate that with our scout team. They run unbalanced sets, and when kids do that, our defense needs to recognize it and adjust properly. That will definitely be something that's different this week."

Sophomore running back Saivaughn Vass rushed for 140 yards and two scores in the Slaters' opening week victory, but has since been held in check out of the backfield.

Vass, along with senior Sean Wolderich and junior Cam Strohe, figure to see touches out of the backfield.

"I remember seeing him [Vass] in the junior high games that we played against them couple of years," Cerco said. "At that level he was pretty good, and on film he still does some good things for them this year.

"With their scheme, they do a lot of misdirection things. A quick running back definitely helps in that situation for him."

Senior quarterback Mike Hlatkey completed three of his seven attempts with a touchdown against Catasauqua. But since that game, the senior has produced a number of crucial turnovers when the Slaters were forced to throw. Hlatkey threw three interceptions on 20 attempts against Northwestern and one more against Palmerton.

"With the single-wing scheme, they're definitely intending to run the ball quite a bit more than they are throwing the ball," Cerco said. "In their last game against Palmerton, they were a little bit more open and spread, and they seemed to be comfortable with it."

When the Slaters do choose to air it out, two of their main weapons come from the tight end position in seniors Dallas Labar and Josh Williams.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Bangor Memorial Park Stadium's Paul Farnan Field.